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Topic: Sugar water... good or bad? (Read 7009 times)

This is my first year beekeeping and I don't have that much experience. I started with one hive and I'm feeding my bees sugar water. A couple of days ago a I came across an article about bee keeping, which said that sugar water weakens bees immune system. I was wondering how some of you feel about that and what's best for the bees?

I usually feed new colonies one or two gallons of sugar syrup to get them started and then allow them to gather their own nectar after that. In early fall I like to feed again to make sure that my bees have enough food stores to last the winter. I have heard that some beekeepers will feed sugar syrup to their hives around the time they intend to gather combs from the supers so that the bees don't feel inclined to uncap and eat the honey in them, but I have never done so.

As far as my liking sugar syrup, I do. It's a good tool to have, just don't over do it. I'm not sure if it weakens the bees immune systems or not, but I do know that if you continue to feed that the bees will fill the brood nest with thickened syrup and the queen will have nowhere to lay and that will slow your colony down quite considerably.

I have a few growing hives that are swarms I caught. I have been feeding syrup to help with the drawing out of the new frames that I inserted into the hive body. I have made it a policy now that when I put on my second deep super that I take off the syrup.

Right now I'm feeding some syrup to some hives that have new foundation and to the couple of weak hives I have because of the continuing draught we have been having. Not sure if it is good or bad but seems to be helping the bee's.

Go to The BeeKeeper's voice www.beekeepersvoice.com and read when not to feed bees. The problem with excessive feeding isn't so much that it affects the bees immune system but that it forces the bees to fill comb with sugar syrup instead of using it for growing more bees. This is the exact opposite of what is needed. More bees make more bees and more honey.

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I feed my bees sugar syrup in winter, most around here swear by High Fructose Corm syrup. But I think, if you can, it's much better for them to live off of their own honey, with the enzymes and whatnot.

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I don't know of any studies on the subject directly but the pH of sugar and the pH of honey are radically different. How this affects the bees, the diseases (such as chalkbrood) is unknown at this time. But chalkbrood cannot live in the acidity of honey and can reproduce fine in the alkalinity of sugar syrup.

I use syrup in the spring to strengthen a weakened colony, and when starting new packages. It helps tremendously by giving them a boost before the pollen flow and local bloom. But I'm leary of anything thats not natural, for myself and my bees. Lets face it, sugar is intensley processed - very far removed from its natural state. We're fooling ourselves thinking there a little if any side effects on ourselves, let alone the bees. See what the average kid looks like today and how much sugar and high fructose corn syrup their diets contain? One of the reasons I keep bees is that it brings me back to a more environmental approach to life. I unplug, spend more time outdoors, I interact with a creature that still witholds its secrets, which causs me to see so much more of the natural world around me. I follow a tradition that's thousands of years old, and I use honey in place of any white sugar consumption in my foods. Lots of studies show that our immune systems get weakened by processed foods, so why expect the bees to be unaffected? But I could never feed them my honey stores!! That would really hurt me!

That's been around as long as I've been a beekeeper--doesn't everybody do that? 2 Tbsp to a gallon of syrup goes a long way in keeping the mold from blooming and the bees seem to take the syrup better too.

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Life is a school. What have you learned? :brian: The greatest danger to our society is apathy, vote in every election!

Cider Vinegar is what I've found works best. Vinegar is not necessary but it does change the ph of the syrup to what is more in tune with nectar. Some swear by using it, others are indifferent, and many (I guess) have never heard of it.

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Life is a school. What have you learned? :brian: The greatest danger to our society is apathy, vote in every election!